


Sohvi

by ThoseDaysThatWill



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Gen, M/M, Unrepentant Fluff, Winnipeg Jets, not just fluff but fluff with dogs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-21
Updated: 2019-04-21
Packaged: 2020-01-23 06:25:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,046
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18544129
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThoseDaysThatWill/pseuds/ThoseDaysThatWill
Summary: “But wehavea dog.”Sami shook his head, “No,youhave a dog.”





	Sohvi

**Author's Note:**

> After the season ended like that, I needed fluff. We ALL needed fluff. This is just fluff.
> 
> Katie mentioned the idea a while back in passing, and it stuck in my head.
> 
> 💙 💙 💙 💙 💙 💙 💙 💙 💙 💙 💙

“But we _have_ a dog.”

Sami shook his head, “No, _you_ have a dog.”

Ben sighed. Part of him wanted to argue that and part of him wanted to agree, and clearly that was all over his face, because Sami just gave him that _see I’m right_ look. Sami may not have been completely comfortable being himself in English, but he could do it body language just fine. Ben had no doubt that Bailey loved Sami, she spent more time trying to lay on him than she did in her own bed. But all the same, she _was_ Ben’s dog first.

“But…” Sami bit his lip and sat up. He had been sprawled out on the couch, but whatever he was about to say required him to be upright. “Well… it is _your_ house…” His cheeks were starting to tinge pink, but he didn’t look away.

Ben grinned, “Mmhmm…” He knew exactly where Sami was going with that, but he was enjoying watching him gather up enough courage to actually talk about it. The topic had been a long time coming, but for some reason he hadn’t actually said the words himself yet.

“So…” Sami faltered a little, “Maybe… you don’t want two dogs _here_?”

Ben couldn’t contain the laugh at that, “Well, I wouldn’t exactly call you a _dog_ …”

Sami swatted his arm. “I was not talking about me!”

He bit his lip hard to keep the rest of the laugh at bay, “Okay, okay, I hear you. I don’t _hate_ the idea of another dog. But if you want it to be _our_ dog…”

Sami nodded, “I was thinking that… since I _never_ see my apartment, I forget I have it.” His cheeks were bright pink now, but still he kept his head up.

“Is that you telling me you want to spend more time there?” Ben teased.

“Stop being an asshole to me! I am English really good, you know what I mean!” Sami angrily tucked his hair behind his ears. It always amazed Ben that he was able to do that, make certain gestures have such clear emotions that they shouldn’t have been able to express.

He reached out, gently untucking his hair, tangling his fingers in it to pull him closer. His voice was soft, “Kulta, do you _want_ to move in?”

Sami sighed, nodding, “I never want to leave.”

Ben tugged him closer, smiling when Sami moved to straddle his lap, “Then stay.” He pulled him down into a slow, sweet kiss. There was no rush to passion in that moment, just a connection, an explanation of just what that meant to them.

After not nearly long enough, Sami pulled back with a grin, “We can go get a dog?”

Ben groaned a little, “Are you really serious about that?”

“Yes! Bailey needs a… a brother or a sister dog.” He leaned forward, resting his head against Ben’s shoulder, settling in to his familiar spot, “Mmm, a sister, I think. And she would have someone to play with when we’re on the road.”

He wrapped his arms tighter around him, “We can’t just _go_ get one, you have to decided what breed you want, and then we can find someone who has puppies.”

Sami scoffed, “No! That is not how you do it. You go to the… the…” He pursed his lips and made frustrated sound, “You need to know more Finnish. You to go the _eläinsuojelu_.”

Ben rubbed small circles into his back, “Even if I knew more Finnish, I don’t think I’d know _that_ word.”

He gave a soft purr at the touch, calming almost instantly, “What do you say for the place where the dogs go that no one wants?”

“The pound?” Ben offered.

Sami huffed, “ _Pound?_ You have no good words in English. Tell me another way to say it.”

Ben thought a minute, “How about ‘animal shelter’? Do you like that better?”

“Mmm, a little better…” He nodded, “We need to go _there_. And we pick one that _needs_ us to take it home.”

Ben was quiet for a moment. That certainly wasn’t how he got Bailey. He hadn’t even considered it, though judging by Sami’s tone, he _should_ have. “You want a… stray?”

Sami picked his head up, “What is that?”

“It’s a dog that no one wants. Those dogs at shelters, they’re left there because someone can’t handle them or doesn’t want them anymore, or they’re found running around the streets. A lot of times there’s something wrong with them. You don’t know what you’re getting when you get that kind of dog. I mean…” Ben shifted a little in his seat. He heard how what he said sounded only _after_ it had left his mouth. He had a habit of that, but for possibly the first time, he actually felt _bad_ about not thinking before he spoke. It’s one thing to call your teammate an asshole, but saying something about a dog? That was too much.

Sami frowned, “ _Those_ is the dogs that _need_ to go to a home. And sometimes there is nothing bad, they just need a person. I can show you on their site?”

Ben smiled at that, “You’ve been thinking about this for a while?”

Sami sighed, “I have a lot of time to _sit_. And I think up _a lot_ of things about us.”

Ben couldn’t help but notice that Sami didn’t look away. His cheeks were pink, but he didn’t hide that either. That kind of teasing question would have made him shy away, so would have actually admitting out loud that he had been thinking about them. If he had answered at all, it would have been coy. The fact that Sami held his eyes as he said it, as if _of course_ he would be thinking about them while he was watching the games from the press box, made Ben fall a little more in love with him. He leaned in to kiss Sami’s cheek softly. “Okay, show me.”

Sami made a pleased sound that Ben knew from experience he would deny if it was pointed out. He wiggled his hips a little to pull his phone out, which Ben also knew wouldn’t get him anything to point out just then. Sami opened the browser and flipped the phone around so Ben could see it. “She is pretty! You think so?”

Ben looked at the dog for a moment before speaking. “She’s… yeah, she’s pretty. What _is_ she?”

Sami snorted, “Hän on _koira._ ”

Ben glanced up from the phone, “Is that her name?”

“That is _dog_.” He used the same patient (not patronizing) tone of voice Ben used when Sami asked questions about English words. And by the smile on his lips, he knew it, too.

He couldn’t help returning the smile, “Well, that’d make a good name.”

“You want to call our dog _Dog_?” Sami looked personally insulted by that.

Ben laughed out loud at the expression. Even when he was able to get the sound under control, his shoulders still shook, “Is that so bad?” He managed to gasp out.

Sami huffed, “Kyllä! En nimeä meidän tytärtämme 'Tytöksi'!"

Ben blinked a few times, “Something about ‘do not’ and ‘name’ but that’s all I got.”

Sami shook his head, his cheeks flushing. “Do not mind it. You like the dog?” Ben made a mental note to try to sound out some of those words into Google Translate later.

He looked back to the picture, “Eh, I guess so. Is she in a shelter around here?”

“ _Mmhmm_.”

~

Ben couldn’t take his eyes off them.

The moment that they had opened the door, the dog (they told them her name was Sophie) had bounded right for Sami. She was still a puppy, both with endless energy and without the ability to fully control all four legs at once. She crashed into Sami’s leg and barked. Sami crouched down, which only gave her another chance to run into him. Sami ended up flat on his butt with a lap full of excited puppy. Ben was pretty sure _both_ of them were laughing.

Sami ran his hands all over Sophie as she tried to climb him, with her front paws on his shoulders and her back paws digging into his thighs. Eventually, when she realized she wasn’t going to get anywhere, she tipped herself over, rolling in the dirt of the outdoor pen. Sami looked up at Ben with a smile that might have literally been radiating sunshine. He felt his breath catch in his throat and for a moment he could only stare.

“Rakas! Come meet her!” Sami beckoned him over.

Ben shook his head to regain composure and moved to crouch down beside them. He reached out to pet her head, gently scratching behind her ears. She turned her attention to him at the touch, giving just the slightest woof. Ben kept his eyes on the dog, though he wasn’t speaking to her, “Do you want to call her Sophie?”

“Mmm… well—” Sami snapped his head up to look at him, “You want to take her home?”

Ben smiled, “Of course I do.”

Sami _beamed_ , “I like Sophie, that is a nice name. Suomeksi, it is _Sohvi_.”

“I’m gonna guess that’s not spelled with a P-H.”

Sami’s eyes went wide for a second, “You spell Sophie with a P-H?! Where does it go?”

Ben didn’t laugh, but the look was in his eyes, “S-O-P-H-I-E.”

“But! _F_ make that sound!” Sami pronounced that letter in the Finnish way, which Ben expected. He had been more surprised when he had copied his English pronunciation of H.

“Yeah, but so does P-H.” Ben pointed out.

Sami shook his head, “I might talk good English, but I never spell _nothing_.”

Ben wanted to point out that at least _he_ didn’t have to worry about crazy accent marks and an unreasonable amount of vowels in _his_ second language, but he didn’t. “How you spell _Sohvi_?” He did his best with the pronunciation and was proud that it came out sounding appropriately different from ‘Sophie’.

Sami thought for a moment, calming his English frustration by petting the dog. “S-O-H-V-I. I think it is a good name for you.” He was speaking to the dog, at least Ben _hoped_ he was.

“There’s one more thing before we decide that we want her.” Ben reminded him.

Sami looked over to him, “Bailey will _love_ her. You want I go get her?”

Ben nodded, “That’s what they said we should do, right? Let them meet each other here first and see if they get along. Bailey’s never had to share her space.” Sami had read all the tips and tricks on the Animal Services site and a few others that he Googled while Ben drove. The place was five minutes from the arena, and he took that as a sign.

Sami stood up and started to head for the gate. Sohvi (as Ben was already calling her in his head) quickly bounded after him, barking as if to inform him that he was forgetting to take her with him. He stopped and crouched down to whisper to her. Ben couldn’t hear what he was saying, but he had a feeling it was in Finnish. He’d caught him more than once, whispering to Bailey in Finnish when she’d climbed onto their bed. Sami pointed towards Ben and grinned proudly when the dog went galloping off in that direction.

A few minutes later, Bailey announced herself with a series of barks, making sure everyone knew she didn’t appreciate being left in the car. Sohvi startled, but quickly turned on her heels to investigate. As they barked and sniffed at each other, Ben slipped his hand into Sami’s. While he didn’t take his eyes off the dogs, Sami smiled, and squeezed his hand. “Kiitos.” His voice was soft, “Kiitos, että haluat ottaa hänet mukaan. Ja kiitos, että rakastat minua."

“I didn’t get all of that,” Ben kept his voice soft, too, “But never thank me for loving you. I’m lucky to get to be the one that does.”

Sami grinned, glancing quickly over to him before looking back to the dogs. “And you say you’re not a romantic.”

Ben laughed, “Only to you, kulta, only to you.”

**Author's Note:**

> [Sophie is a real dog that can be adopted in Winnipeg](https://www.petfinder.com/dog/sophie-44397876/mb/winnipeg/winnipeg-animal-services-agency-mb12/), if anyone is interested! (I _wish_ I could.)
> 
> ETA: Someone adopted Sophie!


End file.
